Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in introducing regulations to amend the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989.

Allan Wilson: Following the close of the consultation Safer Sludge  last year the Scottish Executive is still in discussions with interested parties. We hope to lay Regulations in the Scottish Parliament later this year.

Energy

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty’s Government about the security of the electricity supply in Scotland in 2020, given the planned closures of Longannet, Cockenzie and Hunterston B power stations.

Lewis Macdonald: The regulation of the electricity sector, including ensuring security of electricity supply, is a reserved matter.

  The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Department of Trade and Industry on a wide range of energy-related issues. In particular, we are represented on the DTI-Ofgem Joint Energy Security of Supply (JESS) Working Group which monitors the security of the United Kingdom’s gas and electricity supplies.

Justice

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive in how many cases Crown motions for adjournment were refused within Glasgow Sheriff Court and Glasgow District Court in each of the last two years.

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC: The information requested is not available.

Justice

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates the Sentencing Commission has met and what the agendas have been of its meetings.

Cathy Jamieson: Following its inaugural meeting on 26 November 2003, the Commission has met on 5 January, 15 to 16 February and 15 March 2004 and has been concentrating on the priority issues highlighted by the Executive including the use of bail and remand and early release of prisoners.

NHS Boards

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding has been made available to NHS boards to meet the costs of backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants’ contract.

Malcolm Chisholm: The cost of the consultants’ contract will be met through NHS boards’ general allocations. Boards have received record funding in this spending round and the allocations to boards for 2003-04 reflect an average 7.8% increase – in total £370 million more than the previous year. Each board’s initial allocation for 2003-04 was announced in S1W-33866. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  I also recently issued an additional £30 million to NHSScotland to help free up resources for direct patient care.

NHS Boards

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be made available to NHS boards to meet the costs of the backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants’ contract.

Malcolm Chisholm: Funding has already been made available in NHS boards’ allocations for the cost of paying arrears to consultants from April 2003.

  I also recently issued an additional £30 million to NHSScotland to help free up resources for direct patient care.

Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it plans to have with the Scottish Gamekeepers Association prior to Stage 3 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill.

Allan Wilson: The bill has been widely consulted on and the views of a diverse range of interested parties have been taken into account. If the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, or any other group or individual, has new information or concerns which it wishes to present in relation to the bill, it is welcome to do so prior to stage 3.

Prison Service

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is made in adult prisons for the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual prisoners, or people on remand, who may have special needs or issues because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The needs of prisoners in these groups are met through the SPS personal officer system and the SPS sentence management process.

Prison Service

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is made in young offender institutions for the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people who may have special needs or issues because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The needs of prisoners in these groups are met through the SPS personal officer system and the SPS sentence management process.

Rail Network

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has secured a commitment from the Strategic Rail Authority to the contribution of £4 million towards the Borders railway.

Nicol Stephen: As promoters of the Borders Railway project, it is the responsibility of the Waverley Railway Partnership to assemble and deliver the funding package.

Renewable Energy

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of electricity generation will be displaced by wood-burning space heaters in 2010.

Lewis Macdonald: This is not possible to predict. However, we are supporting the installation of wood fuel heating systems through the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative. So far, 17 projects have received capital assistance and a further eight have received feasibility funding.

Renewable Energy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether energy produced by established hydroelectric schemes is classified as renewable and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.

Lewis Macdonald: All hydroelectric output in Scotland is classified as renewable. Established stations with a capacity of up to 20MW and which have been refurbished since 1990 are also eligible for support under the Renewables Obligation (Scotland). Established stations with a capacity in excess of 20 megawatts are not eligible for support, while new schemes of any size are eligible. This ensures that support is targeted at new generating plant.

Social Work

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the report on the Miss X case by the Chief Inspector of Social Work Services and, if so, when the report will be published.

Peter Peacock: The Executive has received the Social Work Services Inspectorate report into the Borders case, and expects to publish it in the near future.

Tourism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications of VisitScotland’s new hubs will be for the future of area destination marketing.

Mr Frank McAveety: Much work has still to be done on the detail of the new tourism network, and how it will work, but area destination marketing will be carried out by the tourism hubs which will make up the new network.

Tourism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications of VisitScotland’s new hubs will be for the future of local tourist information centres.

Mr Frank McAveety: The tourist information centres play an important role in the provision of local information and advice to visitors. It is too early to say if any changes will be made to the way in which the tourist information centre offices will work within the new tourism network, or indeed if new outlets will be opened. This will be considered as part of the network integration project.

Tourism

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications of VisitScotland’s new hubs will be for the future of the Aberdeen and Grampian Convention Bureau in its role of attracting business through conferences and exhibitions.

Mr Frank McAveety: The new tourism network will need to find a way of building on the strengths of the existing convention bureaux, especially in the main cities, whilst finding synergies with VisitScotland’s Business Tourism Unit. Exactly how that will be done will be considered carefully as part of the network integration project now beginning to get off the ground.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  whether in light of the announcement of additional funding for VisitScotland’s marketing budget by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport on 11 March 2004, funds previously earmarked for marketing by VisitScotland will be reallocated to administration or other budgets.

Mr Frank McAveety: No. All resources previously assigned to the VisitScotland marketing budgets for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 will continue to be used to market Scotland as a must visit tourist destination. The additional resources totalling £17 million that I announced in the Parliament on 11 March will similarly be used to build on VisitScotland’s current marketing activities at both home and abroad.